Jack Ketchum
Jack Ketchum, the pen name for Dallas Mayr, is the author of a number of other books.
They include
Ladies' Night,
The Girl Next Door,
Red,
Joyride,
Stranglehold,
Offspring,
She Wakes,
Cover and
Hide And Seek.

If you read Off Season when it was first published in 1981, you may be
thrilled to see an unexpurgated version available. Then again, you may be thinking of how you
barely made it through that reading; no point in rushing into a hasty second go.
This is a book that was genuinely horrifying in its tamer form and, of course, even more
shattering in full. And is it ever back in full. Whoo boy!

That may not be enough of a warning, so let me emphasize right now that
Off Season is not for the faint-hearted or those with a powerful gag
reflex. Ketchum tackles virtually every taboo subject bouncing around in polite -- and even
impolite -- society. The scenes are brutal, revolting, disturbing... come to think of it, mere
words cannot describe the depth of the atrocities on almost every page.

Maybe you think no one has ever really created horror. Obviously, you somehow
missed Off Season. Well, here's your chance to erase that little misconception.

Carla is taking advantage of the off season quiet to get a rest and get some editing
work done. The house she has rented is small, but comfortable. The privacy is just what she
was looking for. Being out in the country relaxes her even more than she had hoped. Her sister,
her lover, and more of her friends are coming to spend the weekend and christen the hideaway properly.

All in all, renting the house is the worst mistake she ever made.

Something deadly is prowling the area. Something lethal is preying on the good people of Dead River.
And even the few who suspect there may be a problem have sadly underestimated the extent of the danger.
Before it's all over, many will pay a terrible price for that poor judgment.

Ketchum was really taking his career in his own hands when he created
Off Season. This is the kind of novel that can make an author "untouchable" in
the eyes of publishers. Only ten pages into the book, readers will understand quite clearly why
the original editors felt the need to tone it down. Yes, censorship is wrong, but if you want it
take it on full strength, you've got to be ready to get roughed up a bit.

Be ready to take your lumps. Ketchum doesn't -- boy, I really don't want to say "mince,"
but nothing else works -- mince words. The language is too razor-edged and direct to soften any
of the blows for you. Often, you may find yourself thinking that x abomination can't
possible be about to happen; you're so right -- it's going to be much worse than you can imagine.

What, though, makes the plot of Off Season so bloodcurdling and abhorrent?
Nothing in the book couldn't happen. That is at the root of all darkest, dark realism:
it could as easily be true. And, like all effective fiction, it changes the way you look at the
world around you. Read it, and I don't see any trips to the country in your foreseeable future.